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Pittsburgh Steelers have $162 million problem after 1-1 start

Entering the 2024 season, there were plenty of questions about the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense, but it was assumed the team could at least lean on its defense should there be issues on that side of the ball.

Instead, the reality has been that the Steelers' defense can't be trusted after two lackluster showings over the first two games.

After giving up 32 points to quarterback Justin Fields and the New York Jets in Week 1, Pittsburgh gave up 24 points to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2.

The Steelers did lose by a score of 31-17 to Seattle, but one of those touchdowns came on running back Kaleb Johnson's kickoff blunder and obviously can't be blamed on the Steelers' defense.

Even still, the Steelers surrendered 395 yards of total offense to Seattle, including 295 passing yards to quarterback Sam Darnold and 105 rushing yards on 13 carries to running back Kenneth Walker (eight yards per carry).

Against the Jets, the Steelers allowed Fields and Co. to finish with 394 yards of total offense that included 266 scrimmage yards from Fields (218 passing) and 107 yards on the ground by running back Breece Hall (5.6 yards per carry).

That showing was made more ugly by the fact that the Jets were awful in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills.

What makes all of this even more frustrating is the fact that the Steelers have the most expensive defense and one of the most expensive players in the league.

According to Over the Cap, the Steelers are spending $162.7 million on the defense in 2025, the most in the NFL. That is nearly $24 million more than the next closest team.

Adding to that, T.J. Watt sits with the second-richest edge rusher contract in the NFL thanks to a $41 million annual average. By the way, Watt does not have a single sack over two games and has gotten just three pressures in that span.

The numbers couldn't get any worse, right? Wrong.

The Steelers are sporting the 10th-worst pass defense in the league, and the fifth-worst run defense.

On the optimistic side, the Steelers haven't seen the debut of rookie and starting defensive lineman Derrick Harmon yet and cornerback Jalen Ramsey has been good to start his Steelers tenure.

On the pessimistic side, safety DeShon Elliott is hurt and outside linebacker Alex Highsmith looks set to miss time with a high-ankle sprain. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is also dealing with an injury that leaves his status up in the air for Week 3 after he sat out in Week 2.

What's most troublesome about the Steelers' start to the season is nobody on the team seems to know how to fix the issues on defense, which have been prevalent since Pittsburgh's late-season collapse in 2024.

Things have got to change in Pittsburgh or else this team can't hope to make any semblance of a run in the postseason, if the Steelers can even get there in the first place.